I’m trying to secure an internship with a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and The Glen Park news, but before I actually work with her I need to do research about journalism. Aside from participating in the school newspaper (which, has had more names than I’ve been in high school) I don’t have a lot of experience being a journalist. Both my parents are journalists so they tell me what it was like to be a journalist… 20 years ago. The internet has changed journalism, making it easier to get information, but it hasn’t killed it, even though many people believe that it did. Credible information is harder to come by, everybody has an opinion and everybody has a blog, but that does not make them journalists. The books I’m reading (like Heat and Light) gives advice about how to be a journalist in the 21st century. Because getting news is only a click away, it makes it harder to find meaningful news or even break news, it seems like everyone already knows.

Heat and Light was written by Mike Wallace of CBS’s 60 minutes and Beth Knobel a journalism teacher at Fordham. They give the reader advice about how to be a journalist, how to approach a source, how to get information. I could identify with a lot of what they said, although in a different context. I have a learning disability (no surprise to those who know me, I’m very vocal about it) and I need extra support. When the authors were talking about doing research to really know their story it reminded me of approaching a difficult essay or test. I do a lot of research or studying before the final project. When the authors talked about how to approach the people they were interviewing reminded me of how I have to approach people to get the support I need. In journalism (and for me) you have to approach them politely, you have to make sure you get all the information you need because your story (or succeeding in a class) will turn out badly. Sometimes the interviewee (or teacher) will say no and you keep having to ask them and advocate. I’ve had experience doing this in my life so its nice that journalism isn’t completely foreign. Journalism isn’t dead and these authors show you how to succeed in this generation where information is at your fingertips. Not everyone can be a journalist, you have to work hard (something I also have experience with) to get it done.